Tuesday Trigger: Man-Tastic at the Moxie Fab World

The inspiration:

.... just a few quick details for now (it is waaaaay past my bedtime)

Tuesday Trigger at the Moxie Fab World has an awesome Man-Tastic color combo happening! Check it out people:  Tuesday Trigger: Man-tastic!

Will finish my post tomorrow!

Sympathy Card

A bit of masking, a $1.50 Studio G stamp from Michael's (stamped 3 times), retired Mellow Moss SU ink and a SU sentiment.  Done!

Mellow Moss is such a soothing color - perfect for a sympathy card. 

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #160

.... tons of ideas running through my head with this sketch. 

My color selection was inspired by the colors that Michelle (Amusing Michelle)used on  her card...you have to check this one out!  Thanks Michelle!

I didn't have the exact colors that she used but I think I came close enough (again better in real life).  I tried several different items for the top left corner but everything just seemed to take away from the 'Friend' sentiment, so I settled for three wee blingy rhinestones.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up (old, really old and some new).

Hope you can find time to link up your creations....in between the lawn mowing, flower planting, watering, etc.  Here in Canada, we wait and wait for summer to arrive and although it usually means tons of extra work (yard work) it is all well worth it.  If I find myself feeling overwhelmed from the 'to do' list, all I do is think about the -40 degree weather and I am motivated to keep rolling :)

Click to link:  Unscripted Sketches #160

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #159

This card actually happened by accident!  My intention was to use the MFT flower die on some Sookwang paper that I had adhered to some plain white card stock. I was planning to use the flowers alone on my card.  Well, a funny happened.... 

The die did not cut right through so I was left with the cut outs on the top sticky side only. I removed the backing paper from one flower at a time and burnished in different shades of Martha Stewart sparkled dust.  Then I removed the remainder of the backing paper and did the Dazzling Diamonds glitter background.  The result in a flower inlay, although it is hard to tell in the photo.

The circles (on the sentiment banner) were punched with a hole punch. Try getting backing paper off a piece this small!!! 

The remaining layers have Sookwang on card stock with only the visible areas dusted.

The result - a blingy 'happy' something card and a craft room full of sparkle dust.  I discovered another thing too - the Swiffer duster works beautifully to get sparkles off the hardwood!

So now pop on over to see what the gals at Unscripted Sketches have prepared for you to feast on.  We would love to see your creations.  Just click to link:

Unscripted Sketches

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #158

Another awesome sketch!

To me, however, this card was a challenge within a challenge. 

You may (or may not) have noticed that I love bright colors!  So venturing out into uncomfortable territory (guy card = no pink) is just that - uncomfortable!

I decided that I would be way ahead of the game by making my father-in-law's Father's Day card. Once I chose the colors, the sketch actually came together rather easily. 

I scored the paper, pieced it to create the four quadrants, matted some funky rectangles (CTMH), added the sentiment windows, and popped on a few brads.  Hmmm....might just have to make another while I am in neutral color mode :)

Lots of inspiration posted by the DT so please stop by the US blog, have a peek and share your love of this great craft with us!

Visit us as Unscripted Sketches #158 !

Happy crafting!



CFC51 - CAS-UAL Fridays'

Who doesn't love a birthday party?  Cas-ual Fridays is celebrating their first birthday and they would like everyone to celebrate with them!

There are prizes and there are tons of amazing happy birthday greeting cards that have been posted. 

Click to link your birthday wishes or just stop by & say hello!

CAS-UAL Fridays' CFC51

Unscripted Sketches #157

I have been remiss in not thanking those of you who visit my blog, so thank you for taking the time to do so.  I hope that you are inspired to either play along with the sketch challenges or just craft for your own pleasure.

I must confess that the idea for this card was a result of visiting Cristina's amazing blog  My Paper Secret.  Check it out!

Of course, I did not have the exact stamps, so I improvised.  Had a bit of a tough time trying to find a quote that suited this image but luckily Google came through. I was surprised what appeared when I searched for 'quotes about bird houses'....

We would love to have you play along with our sketches at Unscripted Sketches but if time is tight (especially now that the weather is so nice) and you don't have time to craft, then at least check out what the DT has cooked up this week. 

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #156

Great sketch, eh? (.... oh so Canadian !!!)

I could probably flip this sketch top to bottom and it would probably still 'work' as the tree top or the ground could be the larger rectangle area.  The three birds are intended to represent the other three rectangles of the sketch.

Not much stamping on this card!  Just the wee 'HAPPY' along the oh so cute polka dot tree trunk (don't you just love the polka dots?).  I sparkled up the  birds  a bit with a clear Atyou Spica pen (you can kind of see the shimmer on the top bird). 

The leaves are Sizzlit Little Leaves, the birds are SU Easy Events (stamped and cut out), the tree trunk is hand drawn, and the 'grass' is SU Adorning Accents Edgelit Dies.  At one point, I did have die cut clouds in the 'sky' but decided that it was just too busy.

We would love to have you play along with us at Unscripted Sketches.  The blog is abuzz with activity, excitement, and enthusiasm as the new DT members jump feet first into their new roles.  Stop by, say hello, welcome the new ladies and then show us your stuff!

Click to link:  Unscripted Sketches

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #155 + Piggyback Challenge

What an awesome challenge! The piggyback portion is to use something recycled so I went green as green can get with this card!

The card base is cut from a cereal box and covered with a used paper bag. You might want to test different boxes as some are a schmick too thick to give a nice crisp fold.

DH makes the best homemade deer jerky around!  He always saves paper bags to store the jerky in.  I snagged one of those bags and used it to cover the card base and now the cats won't stop sniffing the card!  I love the zig zagged edge at the bottom of the card.  Got me thinking about why it is zig-zagged, and the only thing I could come up with is to avoid paper cuts ???  I also used the bag to mat the home-made paper.

The flowers are die cut from a hot coffee cup sleeve from our local (and delicious) Coffee Creations. There was a bit of a waffle weave on the sleeve but unfortunately it flattened out going through my Big Shot.  I inked the edges up with some SU Crumb Cake and Bravo Burgundy.  I think that the flowers almost look like they are made of leather.  Hmmmm ... leather, another possible recylced medium for next time!

I purchased this incredible home-made paper at a craft sale ages ago.  The paper has actual chunks of leaves and thread in it! The texture of this paper is amazingly soft - almost like a fine piece of cheese cloth.  It was so easy to distress the edges as the fibers just pull apart, leaving a softly frayed edge.

I cut a narrow strip of the paper bag, twisted it up tightly, dipped it in some strong tea and then let it dry.  The somewhat sepia tint is beautiful in real life! (Hint - use black tea only. No milk or cream.....tried it, doesn't work!)

This has definitely been my favorite sketch challenge to date! I spent hours trying to come up with something different and discovered some new uses for old pantie hose and used dryer sheets!

So, what are you waiting for?  Head on over to Unscripted Sketches, enjoy a visual feast of yumminess lovingly prepared for you by our awesome DT members and then get busy thinking green!  Just click to link: Unscripted Sketches

Happy green crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #154

... the sketch

Did you hear the news? 

Unscripted Sketches has enlisted the talent of a whole whack of amazing designers who are anxious to get busy wowing you with their amazing creations in their new role as Design Team members!  Seriously, the talent that these ladies bring to Unscripted Sketches is going to rock the crafting world.  Check it out here:  http://unscriptedsketches.com/  and be prepared to be inspired!

Now, about my card....a somewhat belated Easter card that I actually didn't mail until two days ago.  It accompanied a whole bunch of treats and MONEY though, so all is well ! 

I made the eggs by first punching a small oval, cutting the oval in less than half and then pasting it onto a small punched circle.  I covered the joint with decorations.

I hand wove the paper to make the basket, curved it a bit, popped it up with dimensionals, placed the eggs [carefully] inside and outside of the basket, tied a ribbon on the handle, and added a sentiment (should have used a softer color than black for the sentiment).

I love my weekly blog visits to Russia, Canada, Poland, USA, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Portugal, United Kingdom, Denmark .... our cyberworld knows no boundaries and enables us to share our love of this craft.  How exhilarating !!!

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #153

It's Blog-iversary time at Unscripted Sketches and yippppeee, there are prizes!

I'm back from me wee vacation.  I do apologize if I missed commenting on submissions from the previous sketch (#152) but the hotel rooms in Vegas just don't seem to have a computers.  Imagine that !!!

A few deets on the above card. I stamped and embossed the image on vellum and colored it from the back side of the paper. I absolutely love the effect of this technique.  Coloring on vellum with Copics seems to really attract the light which in turn creates nice deep rich tones.  Again, so much nicer in real life. 

I wanted to keep the focus on the bird house so I kept the rest of the card simple.  Baker's Twine and buttons always seems to fit the 'simple' look, don't you think?

Make sure you try really hard to take part in our Blog-iversary sketch this week.  Remember.....there are prizes!!!  Just create & click below to post your potential prize winning entries :)

It's Party Time at Unscripted Sketches !!!

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #152

Yes, another pink, white & black card (truly one of my favorite color combos) but this time with a definite purpose. 

Our nephew Graham just got engaged to an amazing young woman named Pam.  Pam loves this color combo almost as much as she loves Graham.  She has always said that this was going to be her wedding colors, so hence the pink, white & black card. 

Pam also 'strongly' suggested to Graham that she would love a heart shaped diamond one day and a heart shaped diamond ring is what she got....and WOWZA, what a ring it is !!!

This card really came together fast - maybe because the sketch and the color combo was decided for me so there was no wasted time trying to make decisions! I really found this sketch easy to work with and hope that you will be inspired to join in our challenge this week. Just click to link:  Unscripted Sketches

Speaking of Unscripted Sketches....have you heard that they have put out a Design Team Call ?   Interested?  Check out the details here:

http://unscriptedsketches.com/2012/03/new-designers-wanted/

..... AND.... stay tuned for Unscripted Sketches upcoming blog-iversary! There might just be a prize or two available to be won....I'm just sayin' that I may have heard that somewhere....

Happy crafting everyone!

Unscripted Sketch #151

A side view that somewhat captures the 'popped up' window panel.....

.... and a close-up of the bead & sentiment

Sarah referred to her latest sketch as 'bare bones' .... she left it up to our imagination to come up with something really interesting!

My take, however, may not be too original!  I instantly thought of a window pane and just went with that.  I tried really hard to get a good photo that captures the raised 'window pane' that is popped up on a double layer of dimensionls.  It does look much better in RL.  The cardstock has a light shimmer to it that really catches the light nicely.

Of course, purple is one of my favorite colors and I just happened to have a Copic marker that matched the cardstock perfectly.  The stamp is another Micheal's find ($1.50) that was stamped repeatedly (using my Stamp-a-ma-jig), then every other stripe was colored with BV00.

I made a template on graph paper using my rectangle nesties, then transferred the pattern to the cardstock.  It took four tries and a 1:30am finish (.... yawn!) to get it just right!  

I'm sure that if someone didn't see the original sketch, they would think that I measured wrong because it is offset to the left instead of centred on the panel :)

Now, some exciting news:   Unscripted Sketches has put out a Design Team call so if you are interested please check out the details here:

http://unscriptedsketches.com/2012/03/new-designers-wanted/

....looking forward to seeing all your creations here at Unscripted Sketch #151

Happy crafting!

Retro Sketches #3

Retro Sketches..."Where every sketch is a blast from our past!"

What ????

Yes, a new sketch challenge blog that is growing faster than a grass fire in a wind storm!  Seriously, you have got to check it out here: 

 http://retrosketches.blogspot.ca/

Arielle, Jackie, Casia & Lori have teamed up to create one of the most happenin' blogs!  The numbers of entries is soaring with each new sketch.  It is no wonder though, with the inspirational creations posted by this amazing DT !

I missed sketch #1 and #2 (life got in the way) but am happy to be able to play along this week.

Our son's 32nd birthday is coming up (April 1st.....yes, a fitting day for his arrival) so a truly manly card was in order.  Just for the record, I had him when I was only 2 years old, so that puts me at a young 34......... I wish!!!

Eric hunts, fishes, camps, has a huge husky cross dog, drives a diesel 4 x 4, is a Journeyman Red Seal Certified Carpenter and has dead animals hanging on his walls so obviously, pastel poof would not work here!

A few rivets, some black cording, lots of distressing, simple sentiment, black/brown color combo......done!

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #150

 Version Two (Scalloped Bottom) 

Did you happen to see the submissions last week? WOW!  Honestly, choosing just three cards from such an amazing talent pool is like having to pick just one favorite flavor of ice cream!!!

Okay, so I really pushed the boundaries of the sketch this week!  But hey, isn't that what interpretation is all about?

This new Inkadinkado stamp set just happened to jump right into my cart on my last trip to Walmart and it was begging to be inked up!

I used black Stazon ink for a nice dark impression.  The second card has some crystal effects painted on the roses and leaves which gives it an even richer look (hard to tell in the photo).

So now, I feel the need to justify my interpretation of this awesome sketch:

- the green & coral border at the bottom of my card is intended to be the horizontal stripe that runs 'close to the bottom' of the sketch 

- the 'Just Because' sentiment is my version of the wee round disc, and 

- I shifted the entire sketch to the bottom of my card

I am looking forward to another round of wow, so please click to link up your creations:  Unscripted Sketches

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #149



A truly clean and simple card for a clean and simple sketch :)

I tried many different 'flips' on the sketch but came back to the posted version....it just seemed to work better with the simplicity of the card idea that I had planned.

This is a wee stamp that I picked up at Michael's for $1.50 and I have used it numerous times.  I colored it with my copic markers, drew a border around with the .07 copic multiliner, and then popped it up with dimensionals.

I have seen the PTI linen folder used on so many cards and I love it! However, I don't own one so I improvised with my SU texture plate.  I found the traditional sandwich embossed too deeply so I eliminated one of the cutting pads and used various combinations of shims of paper until I got the soft compression that I wanted.

We would love to have you share your interpretation of this week's sketch with us at Unscripted Sketches.  Simply click to link: http://unscriptedsketches.com/2012/03/unscripted-sketches-149/ 

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #148

My absolute favorite sketch so far!  I had so many ideas spinning 'round in my wee brain...what to choose, what to choose ??? 

I started out with clean & simple but obviously that didn't happen!

I just had to use my new stamp/die set that I purchased from Ellen's store.  See the side bar for a direct link.  Her on-line store inventory is amazing and her shipping to Canada is very reasonable.

The three butterflies might be a wee bit too big for a card front but I was anxious to use them so angled them a bit to adapt to the sketch.  The glitter on the wings looks a bit like dark blobs but in RL it has a nice soft aqua colored shimmer.

Did you see the amazing entries last week?  Wow! So much talent! I'm sure I get carried away commenting on the blogs but it is just so darn exciting that I really can't help myself.  Sometimes I feel like I could type a whole paragraph !!!

Link up your marvelous creations here at Unscripted Sketches.

Happy crafting!

Re-Do



A bit of a re-vamp on my card that I made for Unscripted Sketch #147.  The original is 'okay' but just not really my style.  There was something that I just wasn't happy with.....maybe too much black ???  Anyway, I managed to gently remove the embossed panels (see tip below) without tearing the paper!  I also changed the color of the embroidery cotton and re sized the card.  A new clean & simple look that really draws the eye to the pretty little glass bead (that I totally love).

Tip:  One of the girls from our stamp club (Terri) shared this with us and it works!!!  Gently heat the back of the card with your heating gun and quickly pull off the panel that you want removed.  You might have to reheat a bit more as it does cool quickly.  It really does work!  The paper may warp a bit but is fine once it is glued down. Use an adhesive remover if there is any glue that needs to be removed.

Unscripted Sketch #147

Another new embossing folder (Hobby Lobby - $5) that I absolute love.  Although it might look like patterned paper, it really isn't!  I rubbed the debossed side of the paper with Momento Black ink until the white paper didn't show through.  I preferred the embossed side but I just couldn't get the ink to go on evenly over the embossed images (without streaking on the paper) so I settled for this version.

It is not obvious in the photo, but the ribbon is actually looped on the left side.  It was 2:00am when I was uploading the picture and there was no way I was spending another 1/2 trying to get a better picture.  Why didn't I do this sooner you ask?  Because I am a procrastinator and probably (most likely) will never change!

The sentiment is Stampin' Up (an old rub-on set from way back).  I really like how it looks turned sideways along the image.

Anyway, you know the drill....take a peak at the DT creations, get inspired, get busy and get linked!

Unscripted Sketches #147

Happy crafting!

Unscripted Sketches #146

.... I can hardly wait to see the cards that are created with this sketch!  No matter which way you flip it, the possibilities are endless. And the optional stitching challenge....love it!

My nephew's girlfriend LOVES everything Pink!  If it is pink, Pam has it.  This card was specifically created for her birthday.  For some reason though, the pink cardstock looks faded  in some places in the photo....much better in RL!

Sometimes when I look at a sketch I get overwhelmed with ideas.  I find that if I taylor the card to a specific individual, the colors, embellishments, techniques just seem to come together easily.  Otherwise, I spend hours (and I mean HOURS) jumping from one thing to another.

I enlarged the photo considerably so that the french knots would show up. I used a shiny/silky crochet cotton for the white knots and plain black embroidery cotton for the black cross stitches.  The cute polka dot ribbon was a $1 score from Hobby Lobby as was this great embossing folder ($5).  I rubbed a dark pink pigment ink over the embossed images (really makes the images pop).

Head on over to Unscripted Sketches , take a peak at what the rest of the DT has stitched together for you and then link up your creations. 

Happy crafting!